Photo essay: Abilene woman says she can tell your future

photos by Eric J. Shelton/Reporter-News
Palm and tarot card reader Diane Miller (right) reads Lera Curtice's palms at Miller's home. Miller said she has been reading palms for as long as she can remember.

Diane Miller sweeps the front steps of her home at 1925 Butternut St., from which she operates her palm and tarot card reading business.

RIGHT: Diane Miller plays with her grandson Jack Miller, 1, at her home. Miller, who reads palms and tarot cards, has five children and 40 grandchildren.

Diane Miller (right) examines Lera Curtice's palms as she tells her future. Curtice said Miller has played a vital role in her life during their 13-year friendship.

The practice of reading palms and tarot cards has been around for centuries. Although she has yet to hit the century mark, 77-year-old Diane Miller says she has been practicing the art since she can remember."I didn't choose this, God gave this to me," the Abilene woman said in a raspy voice. "I lead people in the right direction if they seek my help."Miller, who has five children and 40 grandchildren, operates her palm and tarot card reading business out of her home at 1925 Butternut St. She said she usually has four to five visits a day.

Miller has traveled across the United States reading palms, tarot cards and advising people on their future. She moved to Abilene from North Carolina 40 years ago after having what she described as a spiritual revelation.

"God led me to Abilene," Miller said. "Wherever God tells me to go, that's where I will be."

Miller's day begins with her phone ringing almost every 10 minutes. The callers are mainly people seeking to set up appointments to have their future told.

As her "customers" enter the modest home, the petite Miller greets them and they go to the reading area, which features paintings of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, various crucifixes and candles.

Then she grabs customers' hands and begins to tell the story of their present and future.

"You can't just read one palm, you have to have both in order for the reading to be accurate," Miller said. "The palms only give you part of the past, future and present."

If a customer requests a tarot card reading, Miller arranges the cards on a black table.

"The tarot cards give you more information than the palms," Miller said. "If you have a problem, the cards will say so, and I try to help fix that problem."

Miller said the thing people are most fearful of learning about their future is when it will end.

"People are most afraid of knowing when they are going to die, but if the cards say it, then I have to tell that person," Miller said.

Many people are skeptical about the legitimacy of palm and tarot card reading, but Miller said she has ways of making them change their mind.

"When people come in, I don't know them and they don't know me," Miller said, "but I can see their whole life in their hands and then they start to believe."

Over the years, Miller has accumulated many friends, but she said one in particular stands out.

Lera Curtice, 60, has been friends with Miller since 1999. Although Curtice does have her palms and cards read, she often comes just to visit with Miller.

"Having Diane as a friend is more than I could ask for," Curtice said. "She is like a mother to me."

Curtice said Miller has kept her out of trouble over the years and also has helped her with her romantic life.

Miller works from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. She charges $20 for a palm reading and $35 for a tarot card reading, but she said it's not the dollars that she is chasing.

"Making money is not my goal," Miller said. "My goal is to help people."

As Halloween approaches, it is safe to say that Miller will not play the part of the evil witch.

"People think I am a bad witch, but actually I'm the good witch," Miller joked.